Self-winding watch



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shem 1.

H. VON DER HEYDT.

SELF WINDING WATCH.

No. 293,691. Patented Feb. 19, 1884.

N. PETER Pnam-Lmo n w.

2 SheetsSheet 2.

(No Model.)

- A H. VON DER HBYDT.

SELF WINDING WATCH.

Patented Feb. 19, 1884.

W In

M fun-1* mwm HERMANN VON DER- HEYDT, OF CHIC; G0, ILLIKOIS.

SELF-WlNDlNG W'ATCt i.

SPEOIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 293,691, dated February 19, 1884. Application filed May 16, 1883. (X0 model.)

To (tZZ whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, Hnaarxxx vox DER HEYDT, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self WVinding IVatches; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

The idea of constructing watches made selfwinding by means of the vibrations of a pendulum connected with the mainspring, the said vibrations being produced by the physical movements of the wearer in walking, originated with one Brcguet, of Paris, France, at or about the beginning of the present century. Himself a man of extraordinary ability in the practice of his art, he was able to make self winding watches of such perfect workmanship that, even at this time, various samples of his skill in this direction are in existence, and still continue, it is believed, to perform their functions satisfactorily. The principle upon which Breguet constructed his self-winding watch has met since with various attempts, more or less successful, at improvement. Of these the most recent attempt, as faras known, is due to one August vonLoehr, of Vienna, Austria, to whom Letters Patent of the United States No. 211,280 were granted January 7, 1879. This device is objectionable in the fact that it cannot be sufiicientlygwound up unless worn byone who practices considerablebodily exercise. The patentee himself recognizes this fact in various articles written by him; but he regards it rather as an advantage than otherwise, not in the watch, however, but to its possessor, since, as he has stated, every one wearing a watch of his construction will be reminded of the evil of his ways by the failure of his timepiece to perform its duty by running down, and that it thereby becomes a monitor tending to reform the wearer of his inactive habits, thus promoting his general health. lVhatever its advantages in conducing to the enjoyment of bodily health, it lacks an important feature to make it a practical and useful time-keeper for general useviz., the adaptability of its mechanism to mainsprings other than those of the kind employed in the most delicate watches of smallest size,

and known to the trade in this country as the ladys watch, and it is further found, notwithstandingthe assurance that owing to its peculiar construction the niainspring cannot be over-wound, that such is not strictly correct, for there is a continual strain upon the spring after the latter has been wound to its full capacity, owing to the continuing a ction of the pendulum when the wearer exercises himself for a longer time than is required to wind the watch up to completion.

It is my object to overcome these objections; and my invention consists in certain mechanisms, hereinaftcr described, whereby a watch is made self-winding, and whereby, in order to be sufficiently wound up to go a whole day, the wearer will only be required to walk for about fifteen minutes oi perform movements of his body that will be equivalent to walking that length of time. At the same time the self-winding mechanism constituting a part of my invention is capable, by its application, of successfully operating the mainsprings of watches of all sizes, and to obviate any fur ther winding of or strain upon the spring af ter it has been wound up to a desired extent, Lhave invented a suitable automatic mechanism. I

My invention further consists in providing a self-winding mechanism, whereby not only the coarsest mainspring used in watches may be wound by a minimum of vibrations of a pendulum, but which shall be so arranged that the space required for the works of an ordinary watch need not be increased to accommodate its parts; and it still further consists in certain additional features, details of construction, and combinations of parts, all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

In my invention the self-winding mechanism has but six parts additional to those of an ordin-ary key-winding watch, while the mechanism for protecting the maiuspring from overwinding has but five, thus making a total of eleven additional parts.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of that part of my invention by which the selfwinding is effector; Fig. 2, a vertical section taken on the line 2 2 of Figs. 1 and 3; Fig. 3,

a horizontal section taken on the line 8 3 of Fig. 2, and showing the mechanism for reliev- 2* V ceases ing the mainspring from strain when it has been wound to a desired extent; Figs. 4 and 5, detail views, the latter being a section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3.

A is a pendulum, partly covered by the plate in Fig. l of the drawings, but shown in its real form one approximating a section of an ellipseon the reverse side of the watch represented in Fig. 3. I prefer to give the pendulum this form, for the reason that it thus becomes possible to make it heavier than could be done were it of another shape.

Secured at one end to the upper face of the pendulum A is the pendulum-rod A, preferably curved, as shown, to avoid interference with the works of the watch. At the other it is suspended on the axis of the ratchet-wheel B by means of a pin passing through the said axis, and supported at each projecting end to prevent in any way its influence upon the mo tion of the said wheel.

G is a spring, which engages with a pivot, '12, inserted in the face of the rod A, near its extremity, and whose strength corresponds to the weight of the pendulum. This spring serves to keep the pendulum A in a vertical position when the wearer is at rest, and to force it back into that position when caused 'to vibrate by the mot-ion of his body.

On the inner side of the pendulumrod A, and firmly secured thereto at one end, is a pawl, a, sufficiently stiff to prevent its bending when caused to operate, or by the counterpressure of the ratchet-wheel B to engage in the teeth of the said ratchet-wheel. WVhen by a motion or j ar in walking the pendulum moves in the direction against the spring O,the pawl it drives the ratchet-wheel part way around,

I where it is held by means of a pawl, t, acting as a detent, the latter being suitably placed and similar in construction to the pawl u. The ratchet-wheel B is provided with very fine teeth, one hundred in number. Its pinion b is provided with ten leaves to engage with the wheel D, having a pinion, d, provided with eight leaves to engage in the wheel E, which has forty-eight teeth, and which operates the barrel containing the mainspring. Each vibration of the pendulum drives the ratchet-wheel B around, through the medium of the pawl a, five of its teeth; and by the above arrangement of the wheels it will be seen that to cause a complete revolution of the ratchetwheel will require twenty vibrations of the pendulum. These twenty vibrations will drive the wheel D, by means of the pinion 2), provided with ten leaves,aronnd five of its teeth, and, having in all fifty such teeth, it will require five revolutions of the ratchet-wheel, or one hundred vibrations of the pendulunncom pletely to revolve the wheel D. The pinion d, with eight leaves, will with one revolution of the wheel D drive the wheel E, with forty- A eight teeth, around eight of its teeth, and a complete revolution of the latter will require six revolutions of the wheel D, or'six hundred vibrations of the pendulum.

The mainspring F is preferably of such length that it will require six and three-quarters revolutions of the barrel completely to wind it up, and it is so arranged that one such revolutionwill cause the watch to run six and two-thirds hours. Six revolutions of the barrel will therefore wind the watch sufficient to go for forty hours; and, if wound to its utmost capacity, it would go forty-five hours before running down. I prefer, however, to allow the last five hours of the springs capacity to remain unutilized to avoid possible strain thereon, and with that view have invented a means of checking the vibrations of the pendulum when the number six times six hundred, or thirty-six hundred thereof,has been reached, only allowing it again to vibrate when the watch has partially run down.

Thus far in the description of my self-winding device I have endeavored accurately to describe the specific mechanism by means of which the purpose is preferably effected. It is obvious, however, that slight changes may be made in the positions and constructions of the different parts without departing from the spirit of my invention, and that likewise the number of teeth,&c. ,in the gearmechanism may be varied and still produce the desired results. I therefore do not confine myself to the above specific construction. The checking device above referred to forms an especially-important feature of my invention, and a description thereof is as follows:

I11 Fig. 3 of the drawings, G is a cam-wheel provided with one cam, and H an intermittent wheel of peculiar construction. Both of these wheels are sunk into the bottom head of the barrel I. The cam-wheel G is secured to the arbor, passing through the barrel I, to revolve with each revolution of the latter. The desire being to prevent further winding by contiued vibration of the pendulum, after the arbor has made six revolutions, the intermittent wheel H is provided with six spurs, between each two of which the cam of the camwheel enters in its revolution, driving theintermittent wheel one spur farther toward the right with each revolution. Having completed its sixth revolution, the cam enters the space to the left of the last spur, when a tooth, r, on the periphery of the intermittent wheel-engages with a finger, q, pivoted at one end to the under side of the toothed wheel K, loosely secured upon the bottom head of the barrel, thereby driving the wheel K around about three of its teeth and causing the projection 19 on the catch-click L.(the latter being held at its point between the teeth of the wheel K by means of the spring a) to sink into the recess 1), provided for the purpose in the pendulum, thus preventing further vibration of the latter until the mainspring has unwound sufficient to cause one revolution of the arbor in wise in the opposite direction, thus releasing the finger g from its pressure, when the spring g, which forms a continuation of the finger drives the wheel K back sufficient to release the projectionp from its recess p in the pendu lum, and thus allows the latter to vibrate, if caused so to do, until the mainspring is again wound up as far as the mechanism just described will permit.

Mis a thin metal band, (shown in section in Fig. 5 of the drawings) which passes part way around the inner circumference of the watch, and is made to fit within grooved recesses, formed one on the inner face near the edge of each of the two plates. As an additional security against displacement of the said band, I insert a screw, 7t, through its circumference, as shown in Fig. A of the drawings. This band is of sufficient length to permit its ends at and m to reach into the chamber in which the pendulum A performs its vibrations, where they have a twofold purposeviz., first, to prevent the clattering noise which would otherwise be caused by the pendulum in striking in its vibrations against the inside wall of the case, and, second, to accelerate the vibrations of the pendulum.

Although it is quite obvious that my invention admits of combination with the works of watches of whatever grade of workmanship and material, the one model which I have con structed contains the very finest material employed in the manufacture of watches, and its parts are constructed with the utmost care and arranged in the most accurate manner, thus constituting a watch that would correspond in value with the very best of known manufactures; and it is found that the means hitherto employed in the regulation ofhair-springs cannot be controlled with sufficient delicacy of touch and accuracy to effect a mere shade in varying the speed of the worksa very essential feature in the finer watches containing my improvement, and, in fact, in the finer specimens of all watches. I therefore have invented a regulating mechanism capable of use in connection with my improvement; but I make no claim thereto in this connection, as it is in tended that it shall form the subject of a separate application for Letters Patent.

Since it is not intended that my invention shall produce perpetual motion either in the watches to which it is applied, or necessitate it on the part of wearers thereof, circumstances may arise under which the pendulum will not be caused to vibrate, and the watch would therefore be allowed to run down unless some other means were provided for winding it up, and also for setting the hands. These requirements are met with a key, It, provided with a screw-thread, to permit it to be screwed into the stem of the watch, suitably prepared to receive it. No claim is made herein to the said key, as it is intended that the latter shall form the subject of a separate application for a patent.

The arrangement of my winding device,

containing, as itdoes, but two extra wheels, 13 and I), admits the winding of the mainspring in the barrel without detriment to the winding mechanism. This would not be the case had there been more wheels employed, since the last one, corresponding with the ratchet-wheel B, would have had to make its revolutions, unless wound with painful slowness, with such rapidity as to have done it, and likely also its immediate neighbor, serious injury.

IVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a watch, the self-winding mechanism, consisting of the pendulum A, suspended by means of a rod, A, from the axis of the pinion b of the ratchet-wheel B, spring 0, engaging with the rivet t', non-flexible pawl 11, secured to the rod A, to engage with the teeth of the ratchetwheel B, non-flexible detent t, ratchet-wheel 13, supporting the pinion Z), wheel D, supporting the pinion fl, and the wheel E on the barrel, the whole being constructed and arranged to operate substantially as described.

2. In a self-winding watch, the combination, with the pendulum which operates the winding mechanism, and is provided with a recess, 1/, of the pivoted catch-click L, provided with a projection, 12, and mechanism for causing the said projection to'enter the said recess when the watch is wound to a given degree, thus preventing further vibration of the pendulum, and for releasing it at the end of a given time, substantially as described.

I11 a self-winding watch, in combination with the pendulum A, mechanism to prevent overwinding ofthe mainspring, said mechanism consisting of a cam-wheel, G, on the barrel containing the mainspring, intermittent wheel H, having the tooth r to press against the finger q, the latter being pivoted to the wheel Ii, and having a continuation to form a spring, 1 to-force the wheel K around in the direction of the revolving barrel when the mainspring is unwinding, and catch-click L, engaging at its point with the teeth of the wheel K, and held in position by means of the spring a, and provided with a projection, p, to fit into a recess, 1), in the pendulum, substantially as described, and for the purpose set forth.

I. In a self-winding watch, the band M, fitting within recesses, one on each inner face of the two plates of a watch, and formed near the edges of the said plates, and having its ends project into the pendulum chamber to allow the pendulum to strike against them in its vibrations, thus preventing clattering noise and operating to accelerate the vibrations of the said pendulum, substantially as described.

HERMANX VOX DIR HEYDT.

In presence of- WM. H. Dvnnvronrn, Enw. MCCAFFREY. 

